Forced air cooling of components on a probecard
View Patent ↗A probe card with an air channel over the active components for cooling the active components on the probe card is provided.
1. An assembly comprising:
a probe card, the probe card having a first side and a second side, the first side having a set of contacts thereon for connecting to an interface of a test head;
at least one component on the second side of the probe card;
an air channel mounted on the probe card over the at least one component on the second side of the probe card;
an air intake in communication with the air channel; and
an air outlet in communication with the air channel;
wherein the air intake is configured to be coupled in flow communication with an air flow device to provide a flow of air through the air channel causing cooling of the at least one component and a flow of air out the air outlet.
2. An assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the air outlet is on the first side of the probe card.
3. An assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the air channel is an annular channel.
4. An assembly as recited in claim 3 wherein the air channel has a substantially U shaped cross section.
5. An assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein the of contacts are provided by interface connectors on the first side of the probe card.
6. An assembly comprising:
a probe card, the probe card having a first side and a second side, the first side having a set of contacts thereon for connecting to an interface of a test head;
at least one device requiring heat dissipation on the second side of the probe card;
an annular air channel with a U-shaped cross section mounted on the probe card over the at least one device on the second side of the probe card;
an air intake in communication with the air channel; and
an air outlet in communication with the air channel;
wherein the air intake is configured to be coupled in flow communication with an air flow device to provide a flow of air through the air channel causing cooling of the at least one component and a flow of air out the air outlet.
7. An assembly as recited in claim 6 wherein the air outlet is on the first side of the probe card.